


Someone to Spend Time With

by Yacer_Sho



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Fear of Death, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Hugs, Mentioned Jackie Welles, Missions Gone Wrong, Nibbles the cat, One Shot, Overprotective, Panic Attacks, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:53:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28355760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yacer_Sho/pseuds/Yacer_Sho
Summary: Being a Street Kid, V knew better than to fight battles she couldn't win. Even with her prowess and the sheer determination to survive, V returns to her apartment battered and bruised. As she's cleaning up, Johnny has a few things to say regarding her personal worth.
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand & Female V
Kudos: 12





	Someone to Spend Time With

"You're bleeding, V... Ooh, looks really bad too. Is your nose broken? I think it's broken." Johnny Silverhand condescendingly said, his cigarette held up by his index finger and his middle finger. "I don't want you flatlining before our work here in Night City is done, you hear me?" Glitchy smoke hung in the air as he leaned against the window of V's apartment, but V ran into the bathroom so quickly that he couldn't get a good look at her face as he stared. Normally he'd try to brush this off, especially since V was stronger than she looked. But right now, as she gasped for air and sobbed away the pain, he could tell that something was definitely wrong.

They shared the same body after all, but sensations so extreme as feeling something so painful as a broken nose was foreign to him after those fifty years of being locked away inside a chip. The trail of blood beginning at the front door and leading to the bathroom didn't help either, but it certainly made the cat enticed enough to emerge from whatever place it was hiding in this time.

V's answer was quick and loud, as if she was trying to let her anger out at Johnny and ease her heartrate.

"Shut the fuck up, Johnny! This is all your fault! This is... ah, shit..." V wasn't in the mood for this at all right now.

Rushing into the shower after getting a quick look at herself in the mirror, and not even bothering to remove her clothes, V turned on the shower-head and placed her hands against the fabric to wipe off all of the blood that resonated on her right now, but she couldn't even tell if it was hers or the blood of her enemies. Her vision blurred and glitched, not from the relic malfunctioning like it usually does, but due to the fact that she had been crying all the way home. 

Her head pounded as brief flashes of what happened earlier invaded her thoughts, her hands trembled with every movement she made... she felt queasy from that ramen she ate earlier. So many things were going wrong and there was no way to make anything better. It would probably be a better idea to just throw these clothes away despite their value and quality, but she could just buy more. She was due for a new change of clothes in her wardrobe anyway, no matter what the cost.

"J-Just gotta... stay calm. Breathe in and out, V... In and out." V reassured herself, doing what she said, but her brain wasn't listening. No matter how slowly she tried to inhale and exhale, her heart wasn't beating any slower. Even with all the mods installed into her body, nothing can change human nature.

"Samurai." Johnny called from the doorway, his arms crossed as he watched Nibbles the cat wash itself beside him. It was obvious, but the cat was worried about its owner. "You shoot and kill fuckers in this shithole city every single day, but _today_ is when you have a mental breakdown? You're fine, so you got a little beat up, just use a Bounce Back and it'll practically numb the pain away." He was never really good at this, especially since V was always so stoic.

But this... this was something else.

"Kid, come on, you're wasting water-" Johnny was about to just walk over there and drag her out of the shower himself, but V cut him off yet again.

"Don't tell me what to do! Gimme a minute to wipe the blood off, asshole. God, you say my nose is broken? What a great way to make me feel better, telling me what I already know!" V exclaimed, her voice echoing off the walls as she shuts off the water and begins looking for a way to dry herself off.

It wasn't before long when the excitement and stress finally caught up to her, and only then did she end up coughing and falling to the floor with a harsh thud. She didn't cough up any blood, thank God, but knowing that she was feeling like this without the relic malfunctioning made her scoff and move some hair out of her eyes. Leaning up against the wall and staring up at Johnny Silverhand, the walking, talking copy of a terrorist, she winced once more.

"V! Would you just calm down and shut up? You'll be fine. You _are_ fine. You weren't followed home by any Tyger Claws, V. I promise. So just..." Johnny's voice was becoming softer and softer to make V calm down, and he even took the time to walk up to her and squat down to her level and take off his glasses, "Calm down and take deep breaths. You're not alone. I'm here with you, V." He takes her trembling wrist and keeps it steady, hoping to reassure her that everything was fine.

V tried to collect herself as she watched her Sphynx walk up to her and rub itself against her leg as it purred, then remembered why she was so scared despite being so strong.

A fight with Tyger Claws gone wrong; too many members in one place and V thought she could take them all at once. She was dangerously close to death _again_ , where she felt like flatlining at any second because of some murderous assholes. Why couldn't she have been just a little stronger?

No amount of Bounce Backs or the Biomonitor could bring V back from that one split second where she thought she was going to die all over again for the second time. All because of some stupid fucking gig. To make things worse the pay wasn't even good enough to buy her a new jacket to make up for the one that's covered in blood, let alone the rest of her outfit. To make things worse, she was practically out of ammo, and her grenades weren't fairing any better.

"V, I need you to be honest with me right now. That way we can both try to take it easy from now on... And get our revenge on the Tyger Claws. Why were you so afraid earlier?" Johnny asks, using his prosthetic arm to brush some wet hair out of V's eyes so he can get a better look at the broken nose. 

"What's with the sudden change of attitude? You my dad now or something?" V jokes, her lips curling into a half-assed grin, but Johnny doesn't smile back like she thought he would.

Looking away and sighing, V realized that he wasn't going to disappear back into her subconscious where he usually spends his time, and he was hellbent on staying out as long as possible so that she doesn't do anything stupid.

Nibbles the cat sat beside her, paying the water no mind as it jumped onto her lap and rubbed against her chin. V was grateful for the reassurance, but she didn't understand why Johnny was actively trying to help her when he was the one overwriting his memories with her own. Regardless, as he held her hand and tilted his head to the side, staring directly into her eyes, she realized that Johnny wanted an answer. 

"...I'm scared of dyin' again, alright? You already kicked the bucket once... but I crawled out of my fucking grave, Johnny. Now I'm a walking, talking zombie... cyborg? I don't know... It doesn't matter anyways, Jackie's dead and I wasn't able to save him-" V shook her head and tried to get up and out of the shower to change into something else, but Johnny wasn't having any of it.

"No, no, V... listen. This is good. You've been bottling everything up ever since we starting sharing this body." Johnny says, nodding a little as he smiled. "Let it all out, kid, I'll be your personal therapist. Free of charge. Now go on," He shrugs and uses his other hand to pet the cat for a moment as it continued purring, "Tell me about Jackie Welles. What was he like?"

"Jackie?" V's heart began to beat a little slower now, trying to remember all of the fun things they would do before he died. She found her lips curling into a small, charming smile as soon as she remembered the day they met. They both had a gun to their heads while trying to steal some corporate prick's car, they both got beat to a pulp, and the rest was history. Remembering his face and his mannerisms was the easy part, of course, but his voice was another story.

V tried to remember to the best of her ability, but due to the relic overwriting her memories and overlapping them with Johnny's, all she could do was let words spill from her mouth. She had a pounding headache from getting injured, so tried as she might, she couldn't really get her words out every well. The headache could be a minor concussion too... but who knows.

"The only thing that comes to mind is... how he was always so selfless towards the people he cared about." V let out a half-assed chuckle as she held Nibbles close to her chest and continued petting them, "He used to come to me before giving Misty presents so he wouldn't screw anything up in their relationship. He'd always ask me to double check with her, you know... ask her what she would have wanted for her birthday or something, and then he'd show up with the thing all wrapped up with a little bow on top... But in fights, he was always like a big bodyguard, you know?" 

Since they both shared a body, Johnny and V were reliving the exact same moment, in first person, where Jackie protected V from the hailing bullets and grenades just long enough to get her to safety before himself. That was so long ago that V forgot why they were even being shot at.

"He sounded like someone who you could rely on and trust. It's a shame that he's gone, V, but there was nothing that you could have done, alright?" Johnny actually softened his voice as he spoke, running his prosthetic hand over V's cheek and pressing his forehead against hers, just long enough to make V feel better. "Jackie is gone, but he lives on through your memories. His death wasn't your fault, and you know that... We can get revenge, V. Destroy Arasaka for taking away everything you and I have ever loved. We're going to do this... together."

V was awestruck that Johnny was capable of calming her down... but he actually did it. She had almost completely forgotten about the stress and panic she felt just a few minutes ago, but it was nice to just let everything out.

Johnny comes to a stand and puts his aviator shades back on, somewhat proud of himself for talking V out of this panic attack she managed to saddle herself with. "You better now? Did Dr. Silverhand work out your little dilemma?" 

"Okay... Okay I'm cool. Never thought I'd get a counseling session from a terrorist." V says, blinking and wiping away some water, not breaking eye contact with Johnny. "But my fucking nose still hurts like a bitch."

In turn, Johnny begins to chuckle and shakes his head as he helps V come to a stand, but she didn't let go of Nibbles. "You're also going to have some pretty nasty black eyes." Patting her on the shoulder and walking into the living room, he looks out the window and smirks as V follows close behind, hoping to clean her wounds and fix her nose. "That would be the perfect opportunity to wear my aviator shades to hide the bruising though. And you'd look pretty sick doing it."

"You know what? Fine, but first... I wanted to down some alcohol to numb the pain."

"How about you make it a Johnny Silverhand?"


End file.
